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At home in a tiny Normandie chateau whilst truffling out vintage treasures....

jeudi 27 mars 2014

Don`t even lay a finger on it.....................

My passion for the 'Palazzo Dario' in Venice began by accident!

I was reading this book that tells the tale of a gentleman who adored his wife and who bought her a gift of a beautiful painted cabinet with many tiny drawers from the Dario which had been sold off at auction. However he was one of the few who had been brave enough to buy something from the 'Palazzo' which had been cursed by deaths and tragedies; any thing connected to the building was supposed to bring bad luck.In the story the wife was so upset that he had brought home something from the "cursed" house that she refused to touch the cabinet or polish it and banished it to an unused room. Even though her husband hid a hand- written love note in one of the drawers each morning, she would never even lay a finger on the wood. let alone read his words.I got to wondering if the Dario was a real place and had quite a surprise when I did a little research. You may remember I posted a blog about the place here.http://simply-chateau.blogspot.fr/2013/06/the-house-of-no-return.htmlOn our last trip to Venice I wanted to get closer to the building so we took a vaparetto boat ride along the Grand Canal so I could take some photographs.

It was quite a strange mystical misty morning which set the scene perfectly - but my hopes were dashed when we sailed closer and closer only to find it covered in scaffolding undergoing conservation repairs.

We got off the Vaparetto at the next stop to see if we could get closer to the place; many buildings in Venice can only be approached by boat so I wasn`t holding out too much hope.Imagine my surprise when we found ourselves right at the rear of the building and I was delighted to see that it was one of those rare Venitian residences that has a garden; green spaces rarely figure in Venice at all! We could not walk around the sides of the Palace as it had a canal on either side.

I peered through the gate and took some photographs. I wondered if I should lay my hand on the wall or the gate or the marble plaque or even the post box. Would the curse rub off on me?

I decided to follow the lead of the lady in the novel. I did not lay a finger on it!! A la prochaine mes bellesxxxx